The problem with runways at Canada's major airports

Click on the interactive map above to see what the situation is at major airports across Canada.

More than a decade after Air France flight 358 slid off the end of arunway and caught fire with more than 300 people on boardat TorontoPearsonInternational Airport, there areconcerns updatedfederal requirements won't go far enough toprevent it from happening again.

Moving at 150 km/h,the 185-tonne plane barrelled over an access roadon Aug. 2, 2005, and into a ravine, where itquickly caught fire, leavingpassengers scramblingto escape.

Headlines described it as a "miracle" that everyone made it off the plane alive.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada's (TSB) investigation, released in 2007, found Pearson's overrun area called a runway end safety area, or RESA was too short, and so the agency recommended all major Canadian airports extend those areas to a length of 300 metres.

But more than 10 years after the TSB investigation, Transport Canada is only now moving aheadwith what some safety experts view as ahalf measure, and it appears money is themajor barrier to doing more.

"RESA installations can be expensive and most affected airports would not benefit from the existing Airports Capital Assistance Program," which has fundedimprovement projects for regional airports since 1995, according to aTransport Canadapresentation on the issue from last April, obtained by CBCNews under access to information legislation.

TSB wants 300 metres mandatory

Currently, the government requires airports to havea 60-metre strip at the end ofrunways for overrunsand recommends an additional90 metres, for a total of a 150 metres. The same is expectedat the start of runways in case planes undershoot landings.

Transport Canada plansto introduce new regulations inthefallmaking150-metre RESAsmandatory and recommending an additional150 metres, for a total of 300 metres, a spokesperson for the agency wrote in a statement. Those regulations would apply to airports with runways longer than 1,200 metres, which includes most major airports.

The Transportation Safety Board, however, believes all 300 metres of extra spaceshould be mandatory.

The Transport Canada documentsobtained by CBCOttawa mention northern and remote airports are especially concerned about costs and thatthe government would bepressured to fund construction.

"The implications of all options could be significant on many airports and will create pressures for funding to assist in implementation," the documents read.

'Complicated process,' Transport Canada says

Transport Canada has been studying the issue since at least 2011 and said costs are only one factor in their decision-making.

"Amending regulations can be a complicated process,"department spokesperson Annie Joannette wrote in an email.

"It requires building consensus with all major stakeholders, identifying all associated costs, risksand possible impacts, and then precisely documenting all these factors."

Transport Canadais open to continuing to work with airports to implement the standard it is recommending, she said.

TSBwants Canada to follow U.S.

Kathy Fox, chair of the Transportation Safety Board, said they're reviewing Transport Canada's new regulationsand that theydidn't pick their recommended 300-metre distance randomly.

"It is the standard which is in use at the major airports in the United States," she said.

In 2011, Transport Canadacommissioned a study on the issue and found approximately 90 per cent of planes involved in runway overruns in Canada came to a stopwithin 150 metres.

But Fox said some planes do go furtherand it's important to leave a widemargin for safety.

"In the case of Toronto, 150 metres is not going to prevent another Air France," she said.

Since 2010, the board has investigated 16 other crashes involving runway overruns.

New rules put forward by Transport Canada wouldapply to airports with runways longer than 1,200 metres.

International standard

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UNagency that governs flight, has been calling for longerrunway overrun areas since 1999. Their standard, which Canada will now be upgrading to, calls for a minimum of 150 metres andrecommends 300 metres.

According to Transport Canada's documents, Canada is now one of only four of the 191ICAOcountries that has not yet increased standards.

The question is why Canadian airline passengers deserve a lower standard.- Dan Cadieux, pilot

Pilot DanCadieux, with the Air Canada Pilots Association, said Canada should make all 300 metres mandatory.

"The U.S. government gets it;97 per cent of all U.S. runways meet that standard," he said. "The question is why Canadian airline passengers deserve a lower standard."

Other options

Cadieux also points out that for airports without thephysical space necessary for extended overrun areas, there are other options.

Many airports use an engineered arresting systemmade of crushable concrete blocks installed at the end of runways. When landing gear rolls over the crushable panels itslows planes down, preventing major emergencies.

Fox agreedthat could work for any Canadian airport where space is an issue.

"That solution has been adopted in a number of U.S. airports and has been credited with a number of saves," she said.

Transport Canada's coming regulations will allowairports to use those engineered systems or to formally shorten their runways. Areduction in declared runway lengthwould reduce an airport's declared distance, which could impact what types of planes couldland there.

Cadieuxsaid there's no reason whyairports can't go beyond Transport Canada's proposed minimum of 150 metres, and that they just need to prioritize their investments.

"It's not a question of ability to pay. It's a question of will," he said. "Protecting airline passengers in Canada should be at least as important as pampering them with nice terminals."

Some airports out in front

Some airportsmade the choice to lengthen runwaysahead ofTransport Canada's decision to change regulations. Airports in Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawaalready have 300-metreoverrun areas in place.

Ottawa airportspokesperson KristaKealeysaid they added the extra spacewhen they upgraded the airport's runways in 2012 and 2014.

"We took the opportunity to lead the way by making the investment in enhanced safety and building theRESAsto the international recommendation. We took safety a step further by also grooving the surfaces, which is rare in Canada," she said.

• 'A miracle' no deaths as Air France flight skids off runway, burns in Toronto
• TSBadvises runway changes in light of Air France crash

Vancouver Airport will have spent $150 million to do the upgrades for its runways by the time work is done this year. The airport's CEO, Craig Richmond, said they wanted to do more than the minimum.

"We are doing double what will be the Canadian standard because atYVR, the safety standard is where we begin, not where we end," he said in a January speech to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

In 2011, Pearson airport budgeted $66 million to improve overrun areas, but in 2012 the work was put on holdwhile they waited for a decision from Transport Canada. The cost at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airportis expected to be substantialbecause land on the island is limited.

True cost

Most of the cost estimates in the Transport Canadadocuments are redacted, but a 2011 presentation estimated 211 Canadian airports could need upgrades. Based on the limited information airports provided, officials estimated it could cost as much as $408 million in total to upgrade Canadian airports.

It also found that between 1990 and 2010, there were 62 aircraft that went past the 60-metre minimum strip at the end of runways and benefited from additional space.

There were 1,451 people aboard those planes. Transport Canada estimated a statistical value of $10 billion in lives saved, between $1 billion and $2 billion for the planes themselves and $500 million in clean-up costs. While that review found those accidents had not resulted in a fatality, it also said the risk was there.

"The fact that we have seen so many incidents suggests that there is a possibility that a severe incident might occur in the future," the documents read.